Hey all,So I was thinking of a possible TT routine that could be done casually, meaning on the street (primarily my intentions for this routine are for street magic), at a restaurant, classroom, etc. The following is what I have thus far:

First - Disappearing/Reappearing SilkSecond - Disappearing/Reappearing Salt/Sugar **This can be done either w/ or w/o the silk. W/o the silk would require you to put the silk in the pocket while palming or hiding the TT in the other hand, and getting the salt/sugar out of the pocket with the other.Third - Cut and Restored Rubber Band/String **After performing the Disappearing/Reappearing Salt/Sugar, put TT hand into pocket to get the Rubber Band/String and ditch the TT currently on your hand. Replace it with the prepared TT with the Rubber Band/String already loaded in it. Then, when you bring out the Rubber Band/String, you have the loaded TT on you and you're ready for the trick to begin.Fourth - Signed, Disappeared, and Reappeared Dollar Bill - spectator signs a dollar bill, magician makes the bill disappear and then reappear from his pocket (or wherever the magician likes). **After the third effect, put the string back into the same pocket from which you got it from, ditch the TT with the cut string, and retrieve the empty TT you had before you started the third effect. Grab a dollar out to begin this fourth effect.

The Bill Switch is a great effect, but I don't know where to put it into the routine that would keep this routine fluid. I would have to add a TT, making it 2 in the pocket, 3 total (2 in pocket + 1 on thumb).

Any suggestions on this routine? Effects to add? Order change to make the routine easier for the performer or more appealing to the audience? I think the last effect is a good one to end on. Thanks for your help! I would like to add a few more effects to the mix - I feel this routine is a bit short, but I don't know...Thanks again!

The fact that every single effect involves using a TT might be a bad thing. I understand that you want a routine that has a theme, and it appears your theme is TT effects. However, the audience doesn't know that, and shouldn't know that. Using a TT in such excess very well might lead them onto your method. That would be a problem.I suggest not performing so many illusions in the same routine that rely on the same method. They are different effects, but the moves will be similar enough to possibly hint at the method. You should consider building your routine around a central concept rather than a central apparatus.It would make me nervous to do that many TT tricks in succession. After all, would you perform a routine that relied solely on the french drop? I feel that, after a certain amount of time, the sleight of hand being repeated so often would cause the audience to examine it more closely. In the same vein, if they see your thumb going into your fist time and again, or if they notice that you show your hand empty the same way every time, or if they notice that the posture of your thumb is just a bit strange for 10 whole minutes, they may begin to get suspicious. If, by chance, they do discover the secret, this routine doesn't allow for you to move on to something of a different method to lead them off of your track.A wise person once said this: "If the audience figures out 10% of a trick, it is as bad as if they figure out the entire thing." The fact is, laypeople don't differentiate between a flash and "the secret" to the trick. If they notice something strange, they just assume they've figured out the whole thing.The last thing I want is for you to think that the routine should be scrapped. The flow is fine, and the effects are all worth performing, but probably not one after another.

The fact that every single effect involves using a TT might be a bad thing. I understand that you want a routine that has a theme, and it appears your theme is TT effects. However, the audience doesn't know that, and shouldn't know that. Using a TT in such excess very well might lead them onto your method. That would be a problem.I suggest not performing so many illusions in the same routine that rely on the same method. They are different effects, but the moves will be similar enough to possibly hint at the method. You should consider building your routine around a central concept rather than a central apparatus.It would make me nervous to do that many TT tricks in succession. After all, would you perform a routine that relied solely on the french drop? I feel that, after a certain amount of time, the sleight of hand being repeated so often would cause the audience to examine it more closely. In the same vein, if they see your thumb going into your fist time and again, or if they notice that you show your hand empty the same way every time, or if they notice that the posture of your thumb is just a bit strange for 10 whole minutes, they may begin to get suspicious. If, by chance, they do discover the secret, this routine doesn't allow for you to move on to something of a different method to lead them off of your track.A wise person once said this: "If the audience figures out 10% of a trick, it is as bad as if they figure out the entire thing." The fact is, laypeople don't differentiate between a flash and "the secret" to the trick. If they notice something strange, they just assume they've figured out the whole thing.The last thing I want is for you to think that the routine should be scrapped. The flow is fine, and the effects are all worth performing, but probably not one after another.

That all looks like pretty solid advice. Are you a professional performer?

Tedricpancoast, I am not a professional performer, but I have been involved with magic for 13 years. My interest started when I was 7 years old. Now I am 20, and I'm currently in college, working toward a double major in Psychology and Drama. Most of my years have been spent studying magic, but I have spent the last two years immersed in literature on mentalism, which has presented wonderful presentational challenges that I am currently conquering. It is my intention to venture toward a career in magic or mentalism once I finish my university studies.

Anyhow, I have had a lot of performing experience from having done busking in the summers and any other engagements that I can handle during the year. I feel that experience tends to be the best teacher. For years I wouldn't do any performances until I was convinced that everything was perfectly prepared. I was trying to polish my performance before I even knew which parts were tarnished. Then I learned that there is always something for which one cannot prepare, and that taking every performing opportunity and following through will offer more improvement for a performer than any amount of practice in front of a mirror. Naturally, I don't mean to devalue rehearsal, as it is incredibly important for success - I mean simply that performers cannot always be held back by nervousness and perfectionism, or they will not reach their desired goals.

My apologies for the tangential content here. I never gave an introduction when I joined last month, so I suppose this post will serve that purpose.

On a related note, the best books that I have ever read are Magic and Showmanship by Henning Nelms, Maximum Entertainment by Ken Weber, Strong Magic, and Designing Miracles by Darwin Ortiz.

Splitrail100, keep this thread updated as you alter the routine. I would like to see what you decide to do with it. Post any changes for which you would like to gather opinions or advice, even if it's not the finished routine. Far better it is to get advice for each alteration than mold an entirely new routine, only to find out that the whole thing should be changed once more.

If you feel that your vanishing silk routine has some room for alteration, you could involve a borrowed dollar bill from which to make the silk appear, and then use it to make the silk vanish as well. In between (or afterward, depending on the presentation) you could perform one of the many punctured and restored dollar bill effects with their borrowed bill.

The TT is a good utility device to have with you. I would pick just one of those effects, you mentioned, to perform. Since you are thinking of performing street magic...perhaps a cut and restored Ear Bud cord would work. Someone is bound to have an iPod in the crowd.

I think your best option is to do a couple of overlapping acts where a previous act's prop segways the intro to the next, always keeping in mind the audiences perspective. So if you do a trick with a coin (and a TT) then do a trick with the nickel and a silk.... next trick drop the nickel and combinding the silk with a new piece. Simply keep chaining your acts together via your visable props so there is a constant element of new and old.

It has been said before but should be repeated... you can't use the tt as the focal point because hopefully the audiene is unaware of it. In otherwords using the tt as the theme results in one of two ways... From an audience perspective there either is no theme and continuity OR they recognize the tt as the theme. Both are counter productive.

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